COLTS AUTHORITY NOTEBOOK: A STRAIGHT SURGEON

“I’m just trying not to screw it all up. That’s all.” Matt Hasselbeck said on Sunday. I would say he’s doing a pretty good job of that. “A straight surgeon. He played a great game,” Winston said in describing Hasselbeck.

Backup quarterbacks around the league have struggled mightily this year. Jimmy Clausen, Zach Mettenberger, EJ Manuel, Brandon Weeden, and Matt Cassel are a handful of backups that couldn’t win a single game, Hasselbeck is 4-0. He is now the first quarterback in NFL history to win his first four games at the age of 40.

With the way Hasselbeck has performed this season it has caused many in the national media to question if the Colts should go back to Andrew Luck when he becomes healthy. Chuck Pagano was asked about it on Monday, “Andrew is our starting quarterback. When he’s healthy, he’s going to be under center.” Pagano wasn’t shy about who his quarterback will be when Luck is healthy.

Hasselbeck has been great for the Colts but they will only go as far as Luck will take them come playoff time. The offense has been BAD in two of the four games Hasselbeck has started this season. They needed a couple of missed field goals to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier this season while Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons gave the Colts an early Christmas present by handing the game over to them.

Luck did beat the No. 1 defense in the NFL the last time he played. The same defense that just gave Tom Brady all kinds of fits in the second half Sunday night.

Pass Rush Found

“We were on a mission,” outside linebacker Trent Cole said after Sunday’s win. Cole had his first sack in a Colts uniform and four quarterback hits, easily his best game as a Colt. The Colts are near the bottom of the league in sacks this season with only 19 sacks, five of those came against Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Kendall Langford isn’t known for his “rah-rah” speeches but he was angry and gave a “brother-to-brother” talk to a group that gave up three scores in three possessions in the first half. His message got across quickly. With four second-half sacks, a fourth-down stop, and game-sealing interception, the defense pitched a shutout in the second half. In the final two quarters, the defense allowed 120 total yards on 33 plays.

Colts Kickers Are Awesome

That’s really all that needs to be said about Adam Vinatieri and Pat McAfee. Vinatieri has hit his last 16 field goals after nailing four on Sunday. The oldest player in the NFL has connected on 10 of those 16 field goals from at least 40 yards. McAfee had three punts with a net average of 49.7 yards per punt. Just one of Tampa Bay’s 10 offensive drives started past its own 20-yard line. McAfee is challenging the NFL record for net punting average in a season. McAfee is currently averaging 44.2 net yards per punt, which would tie the NFL single-season record.

Injury Bug

The big injury news this week was Ahmad Bradshaw going on the injured reserve with a wrist injury. The Colts signed Zurlon Tipton to be the third back behind Frank Gore and Boom Herron. “It’s devastating,” Pagano stated talking about Bradshaw’s injury. I would say this is the last time we see Bradshaw in a Colts uniform since he can’t stay healthy. He did some great things with the Colts and his style of play will be missed.

Anthony Castonzo is still week-to-week with the sprained MCL. That basically guarantees that Castonzo will be out another week with the knee injury. I expect the Colts to use the same offensive line they used against the Bucs this week. Joe Reitz made his first career start at left tackle and Denzelle Good made his first career start the first time he was active for a NFL game. Pro Football Focus graded Reitz at a +2.3 on Sunday. Pagano said about Good, “he’s got a chance to be a really good player.” Outside of some “brain farts,” as Good called them after the game, things were pretty quiet on the right side of the Colts offensive line.

Mike Adams is day-to-day after missing the past two weeks. Phillip Dorsett is listed as day-to-day. Andrew Luck is still week-to-week with his injuries. Jerrell Freeman is week-to-week with a grade two hamstring injury. Nate Irving filled in for Freeman on Sunday coming up with two of the biggest defensive plays of the game, a sack and a pass deflection. I think Irving will fill in just fine for Freeman while he is out.

Colts Stay Atop AFC South

Remember when people were saying the AFC South could go down as the worst division in NFL history this season? John Clayton, NFL senior writer, thought unless the Colts picked things up it would be the worst division ever. John wasn’t the only one who questioned if it could be the worst division ever just a month ago. Now, all of a sudden, the AFC South has TWO teams that are currently in the playoffs if the season ended today. Is this real life?

The Colts hold the tiebreaker over the Houston Texans for first place in the division while the Texans hold one of the two wildcard spots. The Texans are hanging right in there with the Colts and the defense is playing really well. Unless the Colts win their next two games and the Texans lose their next two games I think there will be a lot of pressure on the Colts to get Andrew Luck back on the field for the December 20th matchup with the Texans. That might be the game to make or break the Colts playoff hopes.